Hearing your child wheeze can be a worrying experience for parents, especially if their little ones struggle to breathe and nothing Mum or Dad does seems to help.

Many treatments exist to offer relief to babies and children having preschool wheeze episodes, but preventing it was, until now, close to impossible.

A Swedish team of scientists now claim that babies who eat fish before they are nine months old are less likely to suffer from wheezing when they are toddlers.

According to the findings, the consumption of white fish, followed by salmon and flat fish, before nine months reduced by nearly 50 percent the number of children affected by wheezing at 4.5 years old.

“Our findings clearly show that … fish has a protective effect against developing pre-school wheeze,” commented the lead author Dr Emma Goksor from the Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital at the University of Gothenburg.

Previous studies have also linked fish to helping with infant eczema and preventing allergic rhinitis around preschool age. The NHS advises giving fish to babies as part of a healthy, balanced diet from the age of six months. However, it warns parents who start weaning their babies before this age to avoid giving fish, shellfish, eggs and liver, among other foods.

It’s sometimes difficult to know how to prepare fish so that children will enjoy it and if you’re not used to cooking fish, you might not know where to start. The good news is that with a steamer, cooking fish is quite easy.

Why not try one of those simple recipes for an irresistible meal packed full of goodness? Steam a small piece of cod, some courgette, a ripe tomato, half a potato and a few leaves of basil and mush up to the desired consistency once cooked.

You can also steam a small piece of white fish, 150 grams of green beans and 50 grams of mushrooms. Depending on your child’s age, puree or mash the cooked veggies with a touch of lemon juice and flake the fish on top.

Have you got some great fish recipes for young gourmands? Share your top ones below!